Wilmington, North Carolina, in the American Civil War

Wilmington, located 30 miles upstream from the mouth of the Cape Fear River (which flows into the Atlantic Ocean), was among the Confederacy's more important cities.

Along with vital supplies, the blockade runners brought foreign crews, who poured money into the local economy through bars, taverns, hotels, shops, and merchants.

The Battle of Wilmington consisted of a series of three small engagements near the Cape Fear River that led to the abandonment of the city by the Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg.

Before leaving, Bragg ordered the large quantities of bales of cotton and tobacco burned to prevent their falling into Union hands.

The outbreak of the Civil War brought danger to Wilmington in the form of crime, disease, threat of invasion, and "downright bawdiness.

[1] During a rainy night on September 21, 1862, William B. Gould and George Price escaped with six other enslaved men[a] by rowing a small boat 28 nautical miles (52 km) down the Cape Fear River.

[8][1][9][c] Though they had no way of knowing it, within an hour and a half of their rescue President Abraham Lincoln convened a meeting of his cabinet to finalize plans to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.